Channeling the Pacific Northwest

There is no art to running in the rain

Illustration by Kevin Howdeshell

An autumn getaway to equatorial Costa Rica sounded like the perfect last hurrah—a final chance to run in shorts before the northern latitudes surrender to raw days, fogged glasses and air hankies. Never mind that October is the “green season”—a transparent tourism-office spin on “rainy season”—in Central America. We were told that the sun would sneak through for a part of every day.

Cue Perfect Storm music. As our airplane bore down on this small country, low-pressure systems settled on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. Then Mother Nature went for the trifecta and spun a hurricane to the north. This weather sandwich delivered more rain in seven days than I had seen all year in Colorado.